Almost
by MedliSage
Summary: Prompt: Person A of your OTP lends their sweater to Person B. When Person A is home, they realize they still have Person B's sweater and finds Person B's iPod. Out of curiosity, Person A looks through Person B's music and finds a playlist titled with Person A's name.


Neku pulled the hood of his sweater over his head as the wind picked up again, the chill of it stinging against his face. He hurried his pace, parts of him starting to feel numb once he finally reached his destination of WildKat café.

"Hey there, Neku," Mr. H greeted from behind the counter, a wide smile across his face. "Cold out here, huh? Supposed to warm up as the day goes on, I hear, but with that wind right now it's gotta feel a bit more than chilly."

"Yeah," Neku said, sighing as the inside warmth started to sink into him. "I'll say."

"J's in his bedroom. Not feeling too well."

"Oh," Neku replied, his tone a bit surprised. It wasn't like Joshua to be under the weather. "Okay." Without another word, Neku made a beeline for the tucked-away door in the backside of the café, twisting the doorknob and walking inside.

"You could have knocked," Joshua said, sitting up on the bed after gently shutting the book he was holding and placing it on the nightstand.

"Says the person who teleports into my room without warning at whatever hour of the night he pleases."

At this, Joshua giggled, a bit weaker than usual, especially when it turned into a quiet cough at the end.

"Jeez, you really aren't feeling good," Neku said, sitting himself on the side of Joshua's bed.

"I'm quite alright." Joshua sat up a bit more, enough that the blanket slipped down his torso, and a visible shiver ran up his body as the cooler air made contact with his skin.

"You're shivering," Neku pointed out, scooting a bit closer. "And it's not even cold in here." He then raised a hand, brushing some hair away from Joshua's forehead before pressing his palm against it. For a fleeting second Joshua tensed, but quickly relaxed into it. "And you're burning up."

"I feel fine," Joshua restated, running a hand through the front part of his hair after Neku pulled his hand away. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll pass by tomorrow," he said, another small shiver running up his body.

Neku sighed. After a moment, he unzipped his hoodie, slipping it off himself before holding it out to Joshua. "Here."

"Hm?"

"It's warm. Put it on."

"With such a generous offer, I'd be mad to refuse," Joshua said with a small giggle, almost gingerly taking the hoodie from Neku. "It is warm," he commented as he pushed his arms into the sleeves and zipped it up. "And it smells_ just_ like you, too, Neku."

"Whatever," Neku said, turning away as he felt his face getting a bit hot. "Uh, do you want anything? Like medicine or water or something?" He asked, looking back over at him.

"I think the only thing I want right now is your company," Joshua said, a small smile on his face.

"Well, you have it," Neku replied, turning away again. "I left my school stuff at home so I can't stay over, though."

"That's alright. I doubt I'd be very much fun as I am now, anyway."

Neku sighed.

* * *

The afternoon turned into a mix of mostly chatter and games of Tin Pin, and eventually afternoon turned into evening and Neku was heading out the front door.

"Catch you later, Phones," Mr. H said with a wave.

"Yeah. See you, Mr. H. See you, Josh."

Joshua returned the small wave as Neku left. Thankfully Mr. H had been correct, and it was distinctly warmer out now. The wind had died down and it was comfortable.

"How you feeling, J? Any better?"

"A bit," Joshua said, idly pushing his fingers once again out of the too-long sleeves - right. Neku hadn't bothered, or perhaps forgotten, to take his hoodie back. It didn't matter, really, since Joshua could just give it to him tomorrow, and Joshua would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the warmth and scent of it.

"It's nicer outside now. Maybe some fresh air would do you some good."

"Perhaps," Joshua replied, and after only a moment's deliberation, he continued, "I'll be back soon."

A second's concentration later he found himself on top of a rather tall building, not the tallest in Shibuya, but the tallest one in proximity to WildKat. Joshua's eyes fell to the crowds of people below him, gaze carefully following the path he knew Neku took away from the café to get back home. And naturally, there Joshua found him, a bit hard to spot, perhaps impossible for just anyone, but for Joshua picking out Neku in a crowd was not all too difficult. Joshua smiled just a little.

It didn't take long for Neku to round a block and disappear from sight, and when that happened Joshua sighed, leaning back and looking up at the sky. The night had almost completely fallen, remnants of twilight sparkling the dark blue here and there. It was distinctly less windy out than it had been, but this high up, Joshua felt a little chill. He slid his hands into the front pocket of the hoodie.

To his surprise, the pocket wasn't empty; from the right side he pulled out Neku's MP3 player, wrapped in a pair of earbuds, probably used during school.

Joshua unraveled the wire from the MP3 player, straightening the cord before placing the earbuds into his ears and taking the MP3 player out of sleep mode. For a bit he scrolled through, the list of songs surprising in the ways that it not only seemed rather short for an entire library, but also the fact that most of it was classical piano pieces, interspersed with seemingly oddly put songs here and there; some Joshua had never heard of it, but most he quite liked, but didn't expect to be within even Neku's wide variety of taste.

It was only when he backed out of the menu that he realized that he hadn't been looking at Neku's whole selection of music, but rather a playlist. His felt his heart skip a beat as he notcied the title: "Josh." After just a split second of waiting, he hit play.

And then he wasn't sure how much time passed by - it was however long the playlist was. And during that time, Joshua simply listened, listened to the sound of the music Neku had picked out thinking of him, he listened to it as his eyes roamed across the city. The city that was now able to produce music as beautiful as the soft piano notes coming from the MP3 player. The city that was almost, almost as beautiful as the reason Joshua had spared it. Almost.

* * *

it was a little past 4am and i was like "i'm gonna go to bed" then i saw this prompt and this happened and now its like 4:30am and i'm definitely going to bed


End file.
